A few conversations this week got me thinking about the way we look at, present, promote and even argue our ideas and solutions our work roles... and the kind of outcomes and efficiencies that results

Mike McGee, Chief Product Officer at Booodl said something very poignant to the other day.

"[At Booodl] we want people to argue like scientists, not lawyers."

Scientist: implies solid research, evidence & result based thinking & decision making, willingness to change position when presented with new evidence.

Lawyer: implies fervantly arguing a position irregardless if its right or wrong, irregardless of consequences/outcomes... all that matters is being right and winning the argument. Adversarial - always a winner and a looser.

<!DOCTYPEhtml><html><head><metacharset="utf-8"><style>body{margin-left:30px;background-color:#eee;font-family:"Trebuchet MS",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;}#zLabel{margin-left:70px;}.greyed{color:#ccc;}.provinces{fill:#fff;stroke:#222;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-opacity:0.7;stroke-width:1px;opacity:0.8;}.provinces:hover{stroke:#000;stroke-width:2px;opacity:1;}.q0-9{fill:rgb(247,251,255);}.q1-9{fill:rgb(222,235,247);}.q2-9{fill:rgb(198,219,239);}.q3-9{fill:rgb(158,202,225);}.q4-9{fill:rgb(107,174,214);}.q5-9{fill:rgb(66,146,198);}.q6-9{fill:rgb(33,113,181);}.q7-9{fill:rgb(8,81,156);}.q8-9{fill:rgb(8,48,107);}.country{fill:#ccc;stroke:#333;stroke-width:.5px;stroke-linejoin:round;}.graticule{fill:none;stroke:#000;stroke-opacity:.3;stroke-width:.5px;}.graticule.outline{stroke:#333;stroke-opacity:1;stroke-width:1.5px;}</style></head><body><h2>Cambodiapopulationdensity</h2><scriptsrc="http://d3js.org/d3.v3.min.js"></script><scriptsrc="http://d3js.org/d3.geo.projection.v0.min.js"></script><scriptsrc="http://d3js.org/queue.v1.min.js"></script><scriptsrc="http://d3js.org/topojson.v1.min.js"></script><script>functionnumberWithCommas(x){returnx.toString().replace(/\B(?=(\d{3})+(?!\d))/g,",");}varwidth=600,height=350;varprojection=d3.geo.mercator().center([108,11.2]).scale(4000),color=d3.scale.category20(),graticule=d3.geo.graticule();varpath=d3.geo.path().projection(projection);varsvg=d3.select("body").append("svg").attr("width",width).attr("height",height);varlabel=d3.select("body").append("div").attr("id","zLabel").classed("greyed",true).text("mouseover the maps to see province");varrateById=d3.map();varzStats=d3.map();varquantize=d3.scale.threshold().domain([5,15,30,80,150,200,300,500,5000]).range(d3.range(9).map(function(i){return"q"+i+"-9";}));queue().defer(d3.json,"KHM_adm1.topo.json").defer(d3.tsv,"Census2008.tsv",function(d){rateById.set(parseInt(d.ID_1),+(d.DENSITY));tmp="[".concat(d.ID_1,'] ',d.PROV_NAME,' - ',numberWithCommas(d.TOTPOP),' people');zStats.set(parseInt(d.ID_1),tmp);}).await(ready);functionready(error,world){svg.append("g").selectAll("path").data(topojson.feature(world,world.objects['KHM_adm1.geo']).features).enter().append("path").attr("d",path).attr("class",function(d){returnquantize(rateById.get(d.id));}).classed("provinces",true).attr("province",function(d){returnzStats.get(d.id);}).attr("id",function(d){returnd.id;}).on('mouseover',function(d){d3.select("div").text(zStats.get(d.id)).classed("greyed",false)}).on("mouseout",function(d){d3.select("div").text('mouseover the maps to see province').classed("greyed",true)});}</script></body></html>

IFTTT (if this then that) is cool glue for a whole range of mashups between different web services & social media. It lets you create 'recipres' that watch for actions then trigger events. No code required! For example: Add an note in Evernote when you are mentioned on Twitter.

The possibilities are quite endless and to help you get the creative juices flowing IFTTT has a pile of samples.